Culture Is Not a Deck of Slides

Embedding HX into the DNA of a Company

Welcome Back to The HX Revolution

If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve been slowly dismantling the machinery of old-school business and replacing it with something much more alive. Much more human. If you’re just joining us now, here’s the recap:

På Article 1, we exposed why transformation fails without Human Experience at its core. In Article 2, we argued that CX and EX are not enough—HX is the thread that connects them. In Article 3, we got personal with the science of change and why humans naturally resist transformation.

På Article 4, we took leadership back to its roots—not command and control, but influence and inner work, grounded in love-based leadership.

På Article 5, we’ll examine the invisible force that shapes everything in a company: culture.

So let me start by saying this out loud: Culture is not a PowerPoint. It’s not your values on the wall. It’s not what you say in the onboarding session.

Culture is what happens when no one’s looking. It’s how people feel at work. It’s the emotional atmosphere in a room. It’s the unspoken rules of engagement. It’s who gets celebrated, who gets ignored, and how decisions actually get made.

And if we want to embed HX into an organization, we must start with culture.

The Story of the Invisible Garden

Let me tell you a story.

Imagine walking into a beautiful corporate building. Modern design. Glass everywhere. Plants in the lobby. Values framed on the wall: Integrity. Innovation. Collaboration. Excellence.

Now imagine stepping outside that same building, walking around the back, and finding a hidden garden.

At first, you’re mesmerized—vines, fruit trees, wildflowers in full bloom. But when you look closer, something’s off. One side of the garden is lush, vibrant, buzzing with bees and birdsong. The other side is dry, cracked, and wilting. Not a single bee in sight. Same soil. Same sun. Same building.

What made the difference?

Simple: attention. Someone had been tending one side of the garden—watering, pruning, planting with care. The other side was ignored. Neglected. Out of sight, out of mind.

That garden is your company’s culture.

The side that’s blooming? That’s where leaders pay attention to the human experience. The side that’s dying? That’s what happens when culture is treated like a deck of slides instead of a living, breathing system.

Because culture isn’t what you say. It’s what you tend to.

And if you want your organization to bloom, you’ve got to get your hands in the soil.

Culture is a Living Organism (Not a Branding Exercise)

Let’s drop the buzzwords for a second.

Culture is not your mission statement. It’s not what gets printed on onboarding T-shirts. It’s not the mural of company values in your breakout room.

Culture is the emotional and energetic atmosphere your people operate in every single day.

It’s the soil. The water. The wind. The ecosystem. It’s what’s being nourished—and what’s being depleted.

And like a garden, it reflects what’s happening beneath the surface:

• Are people safe to speak the truth?
• Can tension be named and processed, or is it buried under “we’re all aligned”?
• Is disagreement welcome, or quietly punished?
• Does feedback travel freely, or get stuck in a fear filter?

Most companies plant a strategy like crops, but forget the climate they’re growing in.

No matter how beautiful your vision is, if the environment is dry, cold, or hostile, nothing will take root.

Quantum Physics Meets Culture: The Observer Effect

Now let’s get weird for a moment—in the best way.

There’s a principle in quantum physics called the observer effect. It says that the act of observing something changes its behavior.

What if we applied that to culture?

When leaders only observe KPIs, timelines, and results, they unintentionally create a culture where people feel watched for performance but unseen as people.

But when leaders begin to observe energy, emotion, trust, and interaction, something remarkable shifts. People feel felt. The system responds. The energy changes.

What we pay attention to grows.

If you water fear, you get compliance. If you water safety, you get creativity. If you water connection, you get commitment.

The garden becomes what you notice.

Psychological Safety: The Soil That Changes Everything

Let’s talk about the most underrated factor in business success: psychological safety.

Think of it as the soil health of your organizational garden.

You can have the smartest minds, the flashiest tools, the best strategy deck—but if people don’t feel safe to speak, fail, challenge, or be human… you’ll never unlock their full potential.

Psychological safety is not about comfort. It’s about permission.

Permission to bring your voice. Permission to say, “I don’t agree.” Permission to be wrong. Permission to grow.

And let’s be clear—it’s not created by a slide. It’s created in moments:

• When someone says something vulnerable, and no one laughs.
• When feedback is welcomed, not weaponized.
• When someone speaks up and doesn’t get labeled “difficult.”
• When a leader says, “I got that wrong.”

Culture shifts one moment of courage at a time.

Five Things You Can Do This Week to Tend the Culture Garden

Now that we’ve dug into the soil, let’s talk tools. Here are five concrete actions you can take this week to start embedding HX into your company’s living culture.

1. Host a “Feelings First” Standup

Try opening one of your team’s weekly standups with this question: “How are you feeling—really?” Not “How’s the project?” Not “What’s the status?” Give space. Don’t fix. Just listen.

What you’re doing here is watering emotional honesty. And over time, it grows into psychological safety.

2. Map the Cultural Soil

Ask your team:

• “Where in the company does the energy feel light?”
• “Where does it feel heavy?”
• “Where do people grow? Where do they shrink?”

Create a cultural map. Find your droughts. Then water accordingly.

3. Reframe Feedback as Fertilizer

Instead of “performance reviews,” hold “growth conversations.” Ask:

• What’s one thing you’re proud of?
• What challenged you the most?
• What support would help you grow?

Let feedback feed the roots—not scorch them.

4. Make Values Visible Through Storytelling

Have leaders share real, vulnerable stories of times they failed to live up to company values—and what they learned.

This makes values human, not aspirational. And it shows the garden is open to all kinds of growth—even messy ones.

5. Create Micro-Rituals of Connection

Build small, repeatable rituals that anchor human experience in the rhythm of work:

• A 2-minute gratitude share to close each team call.
• A “shadow moment” where someone shares a self-awareness insight.
• A monthly ritual where a team celebrates “invisible work” that rarely gets recognition.

These rituals are your watering system. Automatic, life-giving, quiet—but powerful.

Final Thought: Culture Is a Living Pattern

The companies that thrive in the next decade won’t be the ones with the best branding—they’ll be the ones that understand the invisible.

The companies that learn to tend to emotion, energy, trust, and connection like a gardener tends the soil.

Because culture is not a deck of slides. It’s not a LinkedIn post. It’s not a quote on your wall.

Culture is what happens in your presence. And in your absence. It’s what you water. It’s what you ignore. It’s what grows when people feel safe enough to bring their full selves.

So the real question is:

What kind of garden are you growing?

Coming Next: Designing for Experience – Systems, Rituals, and Symbols That Reinforce HX

We’ve talked about soil, seeds, and sunlight. Now we’ll look at how to architect HX into the very structure of your organization.

How do you design systems that reflect what you say you value? What rituals keep humanity at the center? And what symbols remind people every day: This is who we are?

It’s time to move from energy to design.

See you in Article 6. Bring your hands—we’re building something.

#HumanExperience #HX #CompanyCulture , #PsychologicalSafety , #OrganizationalChange , #Leadership , #Transformation ,#TheHXRevolution , #CX ,  #CustomerExperience , #EX , #EmployeeExperience , #H2H #The H2HExperiment

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